Chapter 16: Arrival at the Town of Aressa

Ensig:Just in case it wasn’t clear, “Randell” actually has two “l”s because it’s pronounced “Rand-elle” not like a weird spelling of “Randal”. Just thought I’d mention that so that your mental-reading is accurate.

What, you don’t read things by having a voice recite the lines in your head?

Weirdo.

As for notes related to the story, if you haven’t already noticed, I’ve changed the drop-down menu a bit for Sword-shisho and separated the viewable chapters by number.

It’s hard to explain, but I’m sure you’ll get it if you just take a look yourself.

The reason for this change is simply to keep the amount of scrolling necessary to a minimum.

Anyways. This chapter’s shorter than most… But that doesn’t mean I’ll do a double release or something. I had to finish off moving stuff that was stored in my previous house today, so I was occupied for a good 6 hours. Or maybe more. *shrug*

Enjoy the chapter.

※ ※ ※

We continued to be tossed about in Randell’s carriage for two hours.

「Oh, I can see Aressa!」

Atop a hill, I saw what appeared to be walls. Although, even if I say that I saw them, it was still quite distant. It’s a distance that seems like it’d take another two hours to reach.

Still, it’s quite large. According to Randell, it seems to be the biggest town in this area, with a population of around 10,000. The only Adventurer’s Guild in the area also seems to be in Aressa.

That reminds me, I forgot to ask about something important.

「How much is the entrance fee of the town?」
「Ah, it’s 300 Gorudo.」

Crap, I don’t have enough. What should we do? Goblin Horns seem to be too cheap if they’re sold to anyone other than the Adventurer’s Guild…

That being the case, I should also ask about the prices of other things as well. That way, I can calculate the necessary expenses, and plan for the future.

「How much per night at an inn? Cheap ones are OK.」
「An inn, huh… The lowest rank inn would be about 200 Gorudo. Of course, rooms like that would come without meals.」

I also asked about prices of other things. The average meal is 50 Gorudo, a loaf of bread is 10 Gorudo, a cheap knife is 300 Gorudo, and using a bathhouse is 20 Gorudo per visit.

Those seem to be the rough values, at least. 1 Gorudo is about 10 yen, it seems.

As for money… The coin rankings are: Copper Coins → Large Copper Coins → Silver Coins → Large Silver Coins → Gold Coins → Large Gold Coins. It takes 10 coins of the same kind to go up a rank. Even though Randell’s a merchant, it seems that he’s never seen a Large Gold Coin.

「How much for Goblin Horns at the Guild?」
「One pair would be 20 Gorudo. Merchants would buy them for about 5 Gorudo per pair, though.」

Cheap! Goblins are really cheap! If you didn’t hunt 10 a day you’d be unable to pay the inn’s charges……

But what should we do? Even if we sold the 8 pairs of horns to Randell, we still wouldn’t reach 300 Gorudo.

While being troubled, my Presence Detection showed a reaction. It belongs to something further ahead on the highway.

I tell Randell to slow down, and then proceed to scout ahead. Regular old Goblins were hiding in the bushes, it seems. As always, we’ll counter using an ambush of our own.

The battle is finished in an instant with Fran’s swordplay and my Magic. While collecting the horns of the five Goblins, I catch sight of a sword one of them were carrying. Wooden Clubs wouldn’t be worth anything because they’re nothing more than large branches, but I’m sure that a sword would be worth something, at least.

『Lucky. If we sell this to Randell, we just might reach 300 Gorudo.』

When we return to the carriage, Randell buys the sword for 200 Gorudo. Its price was higher than expected.

「That much?」
「It’s made out of Bronze, but it’s in good condition. Adventurers would surely buy it if it were put for sale.」

That really was lucky. With this, we’ll be able to enter the town. Of course, the horns will be sold to the Guild, too.

As we continued along the highway, we hunted another Demonic Beast, which Randell bought. It was a black bug known as the Black Beetle. Its length was about 50cm long. It seems that its exoskeleton is used to make protective gear for beginners, so he bought it for 20 Gorudo.

Still, Demonic Beasts are quite cheap. Its materials could be used to make protective gear, yet it’s only priced at 20 Gorudo? Well, I suppose being a lower ranked Demonic Beast would also contribute to that, though. Aiming for weapons carried by Goblins would likely be more effective. As expected, it’s the fate of Goblins to be hunted by me.

◇◆◇

「So, Randell, were you able to return safely?」
「While traveling, there were a number of times it became quite dangerous.」
「Ahh. Who’s the young lady?」
「I picked her up along the way. I’ll be taking care of her Admission Procedures as well.」
「Alright. Your luck must have been good for coming across Randell’s carriage. Randell’s quite strong, so having him around would be quite reassuring, right?」

Towards the words of the middle-aged Gatekeeper, Randell smiles wryly. In actuality, it was Fran who protected and escorted Randell, after all.

However, because revealing that fact would have been unnecessarily conspicuous, we decided upon the scenario of Randell picking up and escorting a young girl along his trip.

Alongside that information, I had already learned that if one has an official identification as the town’s inhabitant, or an Adventurer card, entering the town seems to be free. Because of that fact, I wanted to hurry and obtain an Adventurer card.

「Welcome to the town of Aressa!」

Joining the Adventurer’s Guild doesn’t seem to have an age restriction. There is, however, an aptitude test that needs to be taken before the card is issued.

「Well, I’ll be heading back to the shop. I suppose Fran will be going to the Adventurer’s Guild?」
「Unn.」
「My store’s along the West side of main street, so if you have time please pay me a visit.」

After saying so, Randell went on his way.

Even as he left, he didn’t say anything else. Even though it could only be seen as naïve, he let a young girl that was walking along the road alone accompany him without even knowing her circumstances. Even until the end, he didn’t ask of anything but her name. He was a genuinely good natured person.

After we’ve collected some money, we should pay him a visit. A visit to the man who was our first companion on our journey.

Probably a mental link. He tells her what to ask and she does as he says. I’m guessing the author didn’t want to have to indicate every single time “I tell Fran to ask about…” so he just writes it from swordbro’s pov.

I’m a month late, but I just found this today, so it can’t be helped.
It’s ASCII emotes. In the first one s/he was showing happiness with the update, waving at you, and the star was a *kira*/shine sfx.
The second one, s/he was giving you a salute, y’know, that military thingie.
Third one, s/he was peeking out of a wall/corner, expressing shyness.